FORT COLLINS -- Colorado State got out-rebounded for the first time all season Wednesday at UNLV, 38-31, and the result was the end of the Rams' six-game win streak, a 61-59 loss in the final seconds to the Runnin' Rebels.

The No. 22 Rams (21-5, 8-3 Mountain West) -- the nation's best all-around rebounding team -- took getting beat at what they do best personally.

"You can definitely notice when you're getting pounded on the boards like that," CSU senior center Colton Iverson said Thursday, an unscheduled day off from practice for he and the other six regular rotation players. "It's an embarrassing feeling, and it's something that we need to get back to working on, just grabbing the ball with two hands and being physical and getting bigger rebounding areas. That's just unacceptable what happened (Wednesday) night."

The Rebels (20-7, 7-5) gained their edge on the boards in the first half, heading into intermission plus-9 (20-11) and with a 32-21 lead on the scoreboard. That provided the hosts enough cushion to withstand a CSU comeback, as the Rams rallied from the double-digit deficit to take the lead in the final 3 minutes only to fall in the final seconds on a an Anthony Marshall game-winning jumper.

It was a collective effort by UNLV to do something no other CSU opponent has done in the previous 25 tries, as all five Rebel starters grabbed at least six misses, compared to just two for the CSU starting five (Iverson had 10 and Pierce Hornung six).

With Wednesday being such a new, unpleasant experience for these Rams, going forward, they want to make sure it doesn't happen again.

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"It is strange, but it does tell how the game went. It felt different," said sophomore guard Daniel Bejarano, who pulled down five boards. "It sends us a message."

Another message for CSU: learn from their mistakes and move on, particularly with Saturday's highly anticipated matchup against No. 16 New Mexico (22-4, 9-2), virtually a must-win for the Rams if they want to capture their first regular-season conference title since 1990.

"We just got done watching film. We're going to learn from it," Iverson said. "It definitely hurts us. It's not a great feeling, but you've got to move on in this conference, because every night's a battle, and every night's the biggest game. The games just keep getting bigger and bigger, and we've got a huge one Saturday."

Prior to Wednesday's loss, the Rams were the hottest team in the conference. But according to coach Larry Eustachy, they weren't necessarily playing that way.

Although they escaped with a win this past Saturday at Air Force, that effort, and the couple of games leading up to it, the Rams stopped showing the game-by-game improvement they had been for much of 2012-13.

It's a concerning trend for Eustachy, but not so unexpected given the time of year.

"We've been steadily not grading out. We're not making progress. And it's OK. It's a long season," Eustachy said. "You're going to have your highs and lows. As long as your attitude stays strong, and it's as good as it's been. So they believe in the coaches and we believe in them, so we'll see where it takes us."

After arriving in back in Fort Collins from Las Vegas around 2:30 Thursday morning, Eustachy elected to give the seven players (Dorian Green, Wes Eikmeier, Jon Octeus, Hornung, Iverson and Bejarano) who played all of Wednesday's minutes a break from practice following a film session.

That means the team will have just one full practice early this morning to get ready for Saturday's showdown with the Lobos.

Meanwhile, New Mexico was idle Wednesday, providing them a full week to prepare for a sold-out Moby Arena. Some might give the Lobos an edge on that front, but not Eustachy. In fact, he'd prefer it this way.

"I think it helps us. I'd rather do that than not play this week," the coach said. "I thought having a week off hurt us at San Diego State."

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